A Beautiful Constraint: How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It's Everyone's Business

Written by Mark Barden and Adam Morgan

Narrated by Mark Barden

Most people still think of constraints and lack of resources as disadvantageous and find ways to avoid them. This book explains why that has to change for marketers, companies, and individuals.  The Beautiful Constraint is an exploration of people, enterprises, and companies that have turned apparent limitations into sources of innovation and advantage. Examples of beautiful constraints include a tweet, limited to 140 characters and TED Talks, limited to 18 minutes. Through extensive research, the book identifies a replicable five-part methodology for people and teams who want to discover how to make their own constraints a source of success. Surface path dependence- the ways of doing things you have unconsciously become dependent on Use a propelling question to propel you out of old paths and into new ways of thinking about the constraint Can if not Cant because- keep the solution process focused on how, not if Stimulate the right activating emotion- the reason for doing this is to keep you engaged with making a solution Stubborn adaptiveness- balancing stubbornness with adaptiveness in individuals and teams Readers learn about the relationship between creativity and constraints, and why constraint driven problem solving is so important in todays business.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ascent Audio
• Release date: Jul 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663706072

Reviews for A Beautiful Constraint

[velmeran · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a well written book about how to use constraints as a tool for enrichment rather than as a fatal blow to your company processes. It illustrates stories from some large companies of how they successfully navigated constraints which they found in their way, or created in order to provide a benefit to their customers.

[jpsnow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Limits lead to invention. They have to be framed in a meaningful that creates a challenge to a worthy aspiration. Within that context, people - individuals and teams - get creative at coming up with breakthrough solutions. This book offers plenty of examples where others have done this to become rock stars, race winners, and market leaders. It has useful examples and then shows a formula for doing the same. So much of this technique is about having right framing, such as seeing abundance instead of scarcity. The can-if methodology is a particularly practical way of sparking different types of solutions. In every constraint, there is a strength that can be leveraged.